damned_institute | Nightshift 31: M21-M30 Hallway

(from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/334110.html?view=26914846#t26914846))

It didn't take too long to pop over to Ed's hallway and find his room. He moved quickly, knowing he only had so much time.

"Ed?" he called, knocking on the teenager's door.

Ed stood up as soon as he heard Hughes' voice, a smile spreading over his face and glad to be distracted from his thoughts. He pulled open the door and smiled at the older man, letting him inside. "Hey."

"Hey." Hughes smiled warmly as he came into the room, glad to see Ed. "I can't stay long, I've got a little expedition to lead, but last night I ended up in a medical library. Grabbed some books for the clinic people, figured I could leave them with you and know they'll get there."

Ed's eyes widened at the sight of all the books in Hughes' arms. And not the tiny selection of fiction that they had in the patient library either. These were real research texts!

He grinned up at the older man and nodded, taking the books from him and dumping them on his bed. "Thanks! I'll make sure Tamaki gets them!"

"Good. I figured they'd come in handy." Which was why he'd grabbed them. It was pointless to take things that would only benefit him and Roy.

"Oh, hey, didn't you mention a few days ago you had something for me? I can't remember if I was able to come by... I tell you, these last few nights have been kind of hell. Feel free to call me old if I'm just getting confused."

Ed nodded enthusiastically, resisting the urge to flick through them right now. They weren't alchemy texts but they'd be better than what the patients were given. Something to make him think, something he could learn from.

It took him a moment to remember what he'd been meaning to give to Hughes but then he pushed up the mattress and grabbed the box and the gun. He'd taken it back with him when he'd gone after Adel, not trusting the people who'd been left there not to take it. Metal he could get more of, this, not so much.

He held the weapon out to the man. "I got this a few nights ago and there a box of bullets. But uh... I can't use it very well and I thought you might want it because..." He didn't want to lose him again!

"Phew." Hughes let out a low whistle as he took the gun. He wasn't expecting that. "I'll admit it, I'm not a big fan of these, but it'll come in damn handy." He lifted it and aimed, steadying his gun hand with his other, remembering the feel of a firearm. He'd had all the training, used one when he was just starting out.

"You never forget," he muttered. "Ed, thank you. I'm going down into the basement tonight. There's a good chance I'll need this."

"It's better than the stuff I can make. More efficient," Ed said a little ruefully. He couldn't make anything so complex, not here at least. Even his cannons at home had been much simpler than this. And here, he'd probably have to make it piece by piece and then the ammo. It would take forever.

He watched as Hughes aimed the gun, much more professionally than Ed ever had. He'd just aimed it at that creature and hoped that it hit. He forced a smile and nodded, glad that he'd given it to Hughes now if he was doing something dangerous. "I'm glad I got it then," he said, holding out the box of bullets. If it kept Hughes safe then Ed was glad to let it go.

"Well, I do prefer my knives, but they aren't always practical around here." Hughes tucked the gun into the waistband of his pants and took the bullets. He felt a bit better about tonight, knowing he could attack from a distance without worrying about retrieving his weapon.

"I'm glad you got it, too."

Ed nodded in agreement. "Things move too fast and you really don't want to have to get so close most of the time," he replied. He was glad that Hughes would be able to take something out without getting in range, hopefully, of whatever claws or teeth the creatures had.

"Be careful."

"You too." Hughes nodded. "I'll let you know how things went tomorrow. Maybe we'll be a little closer to getting the hell out of here." He moved to the door, shooting Ed a smile over his shoulder.

"Take it easy, Ed."

"Yeah. I hope so," Ed replied, forcing another smile because he couldn't help but worry about what would happen if they did get out of here. Lust's words from the other day came back to him. He'd lose a lot, people he'd never have met without this place, and people who shouldn't even be alive.

"I will," he said, his smile becoming more real at that. "Good luck!"

He gave Ed a small salute and headed back into the hallway, to go and wait for the rest of his team.

(back to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/334110.html))

Still no sign of Fox yet. Ed shifted uncomfortably on his bed, flicking through the pages of one of the medical texts. Fox was usually pretty quick at getting through the corridors so him not being here yet was a little surprising.

He'd probably just got delayed with something.

Still...

Ed grabbed his journal and quickly wrote out a note, telling Fox that he'd gone to the clinic to take some books. He dropped that on his desk and scooped up the books before glancing at his roommate. "Uh... there should be someone coming here to meet me. There's a note on the table for him if you're staying for a while."

[To here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/334503.html)]

Hiei didn't respond to Ed's words with anything more than a nod; the demon couldn't care less about the other's friends or what notes were left. He had his own business, and worse, nothing to do while he waited for that business to begin.

Or almost nothing.

Hiei moved to the closet, pulling out the sword that had given him so much trouble before. Now it seemed entirely lifeless and dull, which suited the demon. Let it talk to Kurikara. Hiei had little need of conversation. He laid the blade across his lap when he sat down again, doing his best to judge the time in this place.

If Kurikara took too long, Hiei would find him. A quick test revealed his third eye was working perfectly (so to speak). And the demon certainly had no problem finding a deliquent dragon and beating sense into him if necessary.

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/331231.html?thread=27070431#t27070431)]

Kurikara didn't take a break until he made it to the relative safety of the hallways. It wasn't that he cared what else wanted to attack him, but those bats had been a bit of a slow down and now he was tired and dealing with various cuts and sticky-dry blood. Sure, he was a veteran, but up until this place he'd never had to worry about ordinary little things like defence and blood.

It should have made the night before easier, the familiarity of dealing with too much power and not enough control. But he was done sulking over that. There would be time to sulk when he felt like he'd properly dealt with his own responsibility in the matter. He held the aloe leaves close to his chest. Well, it was a start.

He knew the path to Hiei's room off by heart having been hit by the door more than a few times. He'd caught his breath while he walked and brooded, and now he let himself in, nudging the door open with his bad arm. Hiei was expecting him anyway, why bother with the knocking?

"Don't even say it, ok? I got held up.." The dragon grumbled, crossing the room towards Hiei and the sword laying across his lap. He hopped onto the bed beside the demon, setting the aloe leaves down between them so he could reach for his sword.

Hiei didn't stop Kurikara from taking his sword, knowing the blade rightfully belonged to the dragon. He also didn't say anything about Kurikara being late, or injured, or dumping a pile of leaves in his bed.

What he did do was lean over and hit Kurikara's head with a sharp right, though not as hard as he would have hit an enemy.

"Your reason had better be a good one, or I'll do much worse than that." Hiei picked up one of the alone leaves, holding it between bandaged fingers. He'd seen his share of plants from both the demon and human realms, particulary since he'd partnered with Kurama. This one was completely unknown to the demon, however, making Kurikara's reason all the more unclear.

"You went out by yourself to bring me flowers?"

Kurikara took great care not to snatch Murakumo. Hiei had taken a huge risk to hold onto the sword for the duration of the night and his own protective instincts shouldn't be acting up at a time like this. He pulled his sword close and let it rest against his shoulder, his arms wrapped lightly around the blade. He nuzzled the hilt.

"RyuOh-sama..!" Murakumo managed to make it sound both like a fond greeting and slight embarrassment.

Kurikara chuckled, a warmth reserved for only his swords. "I missed you. Is Futsu...?"

"I do not know." Murakumo said. "Last night-"

"Yeah, last night. You did well." Protecting what was important to me. "Forget about it, ok?" He shifted his shoulder a little and settled Murakumo. They were sworn to each other. Being turned against his master would not sit well with Murakumo for some time.

At present though, he had to deal with the love tap from his demon. Kurikara wasn't bothered but he did scowl at Hiei a moment later. "I'm not made of glass. If you're pissed don't be so wimpy about it."

But he understood it was Hiei-speak for 'don't get yourself hurt like an idiot'. Compared to the last few nights though, this was just a few ugly-looking scratches.

"Of course I brought you flowers. You're my wife." Kurikara's mood had vastly improved from just being in contact with Murakumo. Now he was teasing, shifting his hold again so that he could move closer to Hiei. "It's aloe; it'll soothe the burns. Take off your shirt."

"Idiot. Do you really think that I would show mercy?" Which was to say that Hiei wasn't actually pissed. Maybe a little annoyed, but watching Kurikara practically fondle his sword did do good things for Hiei's mood, despite how strange the action was. The demon could easily chalk it up to the dragon's eccentricity, a habit that was easy enough to tolerate, or better, ignore completely.

"Are you starting that again?" Hiei frowned as Kurikara claimed him, but not for that reason. His burns were treated, and while they did hurt, it wasn't any sort of pain the demon couldn't handle. Still, he stripped off his shirt, not wanting to add to the potential of Kurikara's stupidity through his own stubbornness. For once.

"You didn't need to get anything." Hiei eyed Kurikara, wondering exactly how the plant worked, and how guilty Kurikara still felt. His words were simple matter of fact, calm for now, reserving judgment until actual idiocy could be proven. "It's nothing I can't handle."

Kurikara appeared to give the question a little thought before shrugging with his good shoulder. "..Nah, guess not. You're pretty much an ass too."

He grinned slyly at Hiei. "You're the one who called them flowers. You can be the husband if you want to fight me for the title."

Truth be told, to him it hardly mattered who took what role. They were the same standing and he was only half serious anyway. It was a good distraction. Kurikara didn't know much about modern medicine, truth be told. This was the only sort of healing he knew. Any burns more sever than that wouldn't have been accidental and he would have simply killed the victim instead of trying to heal them.

"Yeah, I know. I got bored," Kurikara replied. "I didn't really know what else to do. We have to gather metal for your sword and you'd be pissed if I tried to do that on my own and I'd be pissed if you came along and ripped off the rest of your skin."

Murakumo rested across his lap while he worked. He took the aloe leaf in hand, scoring and splitting it with his claws. He scraped the contents of the leaf onto Murakumo's blade to be mixed by hand. One, two...four leaves was enough for now. There was only one left anyway, and they were fairly large. Kurikara began applying the cool gel-like substance to the areas that hadn't been covered by bandages first. If he had any hesitation, it wouldn't show in the way he worked; his hands were always steady.

"If I'm going to spend my time fighting you, it's going to be for a better reason than that." No, their fights were much more important, much more significant than some stupid human title. Hiei had enough reason to fight the dragon, after they had freed themselves. That would be a good fight, not one filled with dirty tricks like certain tournaments he could think of, but a pure contest between two powerful forces.

And Hiei would win, of course. The demon smirked when he thought about it, though faintly. His attention was more on Kurikara than his own thoughts.

"Don't underestimate me. I've done worse than this to myself before." For the Jagan and its power. Oh yes, Hiei had felt suffering like none could know, the pain of having the foreign eye implanted, and of taming the power it contained. It was why he knew he'd be fine, eventually; the demon had already sacrificed his arm to the black fires of the demon realm, and thrust it into a bonfire as part of his training. Kurikara had done no worse.

Though the stuff Kurikara was spreading onto his skin felt good. Hiei would never admit it, of course, but it was soothing and cool.

"How did you know about this? Do certain gods have affinities with plants?" It was a curiosity Hiei rarely showed, followed by a hesitation that was all the more infrequent. After a moment's paused, he turned his eyes away. "You and Kurama could compare notes if he were still here. He uses plants too."

Kurikara snorted softly. He could count on one hand the number of times they'd actually fought for a good reason - mostly, it was to blow off steam or just for fun. He knew Hiei's smirk was because the demon thought he would win the battle they both looked forward to.

Undoubtedly, Kurikara would be the winner. But it would still be a worthy victory.

He raised an eyebrow at Hiei. "To yourself? Are you a masochist or something?"

His spiritual senses weren't nearly as sharp as they should be, so he hadn't really picked up on anything outside of a standard demon-from-another-world strangeness. To Kurikara, there were very few reasons that Hiei would willingly bring himself harm. The main one was power. The benefits would outweigh the risk for the demon.

But maybe Hiei was just a pervert. He could never really be sure.

The next question brought him pause. Not really what it was, but the way Hiei had turned away. "Sort of." He started, unwrapping some of the thinner bandages. "Affinity is a good word for it. I used to spend a lot of time out in the forests slacking off and the forest would become a refuge if I asked that of it. We got along well. I don't know much of anything about how to use plants." Kurikara was responding to the curiosity and buying himself a little time to figure out what to do. He couldn't bring Kurama back and he didn't do fancy words of comfort. So he smacked the back of Hiei's head lightly with the back of his hand. "Idiot. Don't hide your face. If you don't know what's happened to somebody, you can look depressed after you find out."

There was a difference in fighting and fighting, and Hiei had thought Kurikara would be clever enough to pick up on that. But if the dragon wasn't, it'd be his own weakness in the end, and one Hiei would take advantage of.

And of course he would win. Kurikara was simply fooling himself if he thought otherwise, despite how worthy of an opponent he was.

Hiei scowled at Kurikara, though half-heartedly, when he suggested that Hiei hurt himself for the pleasure of it. There was enough injury to deal with when everything else was trying to kill you without inflicting it on yourself for something as stupid as that. "Do I look like an idiot to you? It was necessary to master my power, and to get the Jagan in the first place."

From stabbing through his own hand with a sword, to purposely setting his arm on fire. All of it had been necessary, and with a worthy payoff in the end.

But then Kurikara hit him, and thoughts of that payoff were interrupted. Hiei had been listening, of course, but the hit was random, even if it did hurt, and earned the dragon a sharp glare. "I wasn't hiding my face, moron. And I wasn't depressed. If Kurama was foolish enough to get caught up by something, then its his own fault."

Just like Yusuke when he had gotten kidnapped. Both of them should have known better.

"Thought so." Kurikara murmured, loud enough for Hiei to hear. "Why did you get it anyway? Other than the obvious."

He finished with the shoulder and started working his way down Hiei's arm. "Fine, but we still need to find him." Kurikara replied with a slight shrug. "And my lost shinigami. And our things." He sighed. "What a pain in the ass. Don't go missing, ok? You're bad enough as-is."

Nightshift 31: M21-M30 Hallway

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